‘Grampo’ was ‘bien snapeão’ … sometimes
Era un mañana en November cuando Grampo Caralampio and Canutito decided to go window shopping. Grama Cuca had gone a visitar a su hermana en Canjilón, so the boys were all alone en la casa. El primer frost había caído on the ground yel weather estaba un poco frisky so they had put on their cotones. They walked across the field dónde las hojas estaban todas apelmasadas in the corners. They ignored these leaves stuck together allí en los rincones.
Nicely bundled in their jackets, they hopped into the old truck and drove to town en la troca vieja y la parquearon en la plaza. They walked along the sidewalk mirando into las ventanas de las tiendas. As they were walking por la plaza, Canutito noticed que había una new store across the way.
He turned to grampo and asked him: “Grampo, what kind of tienda is named ‘C.A. Jones’? I wonder si es una toy store?”
“I have never heard of una tienda que se llame ‘C.A. Jones’, m’hijo,” grampo replied. “I have heard de tiendas que se llamen cosas como J.C. Penney y TG&Y, pero ninguna that is named ‘C.A. Jones’. Let’s go see.”
Los dos walked across the plaza y miraron por la vitrina but even looking through the store window didn’t tell them anything. It just made them más confusos porque inside the store there was a display of coffins de todos tamaños. Suddenly grampo snapeó and smiled porque he understood. He said to Canutito, “This store no se llama ‘C.A. Jones,’ m’hijo .Itis advertizing ‘cajones’ which is the Spanish word for ‘coffins.’ ”
“Oh, I get it, grampo!” Canutito exclaimed. “Yo estaba trying to read el sign in English pero estaba written in Spanish.” That store made grampo remember una riddle, as they walked back across la plaza. He said, “M’hijo, I have una adivinanza for you: El que lo hizo, no lo quizo y el que lo usó, no lo gozó. ¿Qué sera?”
Canutito translated: “The man who made it didn’t want it, and the one who used it didn’t enjoy it. What is it? He thought por unos momentos pero finalmente he gave up. “I don’t know, grampo. What was made por un hombre who didn’t want it and then used por un hombre who didn’t enjoy it?”
“It is un cajón, m’hijo,” grampo said. “The man que hizo the coffin didn’t want it y el hombre who used it, was dead, de manera que he didn’t enjoy it.”
“Good one, grampo!” Canutito exclaimed. “You are bien snapeão!”
They reached el otro lão de la plaza and stopped to look at an autumn display en una tienda. Tenía sheaves of cornstalks tied and standing on end.
Grampo gazed at them por un momento and then he said, “Las sheaves de maíz que están todas tied together and standing, are called ‘monojos,’ m’hijo,” he said.
“I think que you are probably la persona más smartota en todo el mundo, grampo!” Canutito said con admiración. Grampo only smiled porque su nieto estaba todo proud of him. He turned a mirar otro display en la store window. He saw una exposición de bottles que tenían una red sauce in them. El label en las botellas read “Tabasco.” He misread it and thought que the bottles contained tobacco. “Well, just leave it to esos Americanos smartotes to put salsa de tabaco in a bottle; that way you don’t to have to smoke it. You just drink your cigarritos.” Canutito looked at grampo un poco foneh. Maybe he wasn’t so snapeão after all …